Monks have been making wine in this subalpine abbey since the 12th century. The Abbazia’s reputation has faltered from time to time, but the arrival of a new winemaking team in the late 1990s has brought more consistency. Alongside the classic dry and citrus-flavored Valle Isarco Silvaner, Novacella has recently impressed with the prize-winning, austere single-vineyard Lagrein Riserva Praepositus.

Both Alois Lageder and his superb wines exude a sense of real spontaneity. However, behind that lies a deep philosophy that is evident all the way from the environmentally friendly management of his vineyards to his use of solar power in the winery. Lageder sources his long list of single vineyard selections from sites that are legendary in the region for their respective varieties. Taste the concentrated cassis flavors of the Cor Römigberg Cabernet Sauvignon from the hot, south-facing slopes of Lago di Caldaro, and the flinty, dry Lehenhof Sauvignon Blanc from the high, volcanic-soil terraces of Terlano for a textbook introduction to terroir differences in Alto Adige.

Cooperative winemaking in Alto Adige

Cooperatives are generally associated with everyday drinking wine rather than exciting quality. However, in Alto Adige, where cantine produttori (the title most co-ops have adopted) handle 70 percent of the output, they make many of the best wines.

In the mid-1980s, charismatic winery directors Luis Raifer and Hans Terzer updated the unwieldy co-op system from the 19th century, making it the driving force behind modernizing the regional wine industry. Their drastic reduction of yields, rigid selection of grapes, and exclusive single vineyard bottlings took Alto Adige into the top league of Italian winemaking. A string of progressive produttori wineries have since emerged to make the co-op sector the most reliable and exciting in the region. In addition to the co-ops featured, look for those listed here.

Sepp Reiterer makes traditional bottle-refermented bubbly in the tiny Tyrolean village of Meltina, 3,900 ft (1,200 m) above sea level. He ages the wines for up to five years and believes in minimum dosage (added sugar at bottling) to preserve the authentic dry, tangy quality of the Alto Adige. The result is a range of spumante wines that are among the most interesting and long-lived in Italy.

The Amalgamation of Bolzano’s two leading cooperatives, Cantina Gries and Produttori Santa Maddalena, means that the cream of Lagrein production from the classic Gries subzone is now under one roof. Their joint list represents the best of both the old and the new in reds. The berry-flavored Barone Carl Eyre selection is aged in big traditional barrels, while the dense, chocolaty Taber Riserva belongs to the modern, new barrique school of winemaking. Both are impeccable.

Not only does Hofstätter own Italy’s greatest Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) vineyard—the Vigna Sant’Urbano—but it is also the owner of one of Alto Adige’s best Gewürztraminer estates. The sublimely long-lived Pinot Nero has had a faultless track record over the past 15 years, while the rich and peppery Gewürztraminer has moved up a gear in the last two or three. Both belong to the must-try category.

Silvaner grapes usually make light, dry, and floral wines, perfect for summer drinking. Kuen Hof owner-winemaker Peter Pliger, however, looks for another dimension in the variety. A grower of almost fanatical dedication, he works with minuscule yields, harvests late, and ages his wine in large acacia-wood barrels to make full-bodied wines with layers of fruit and aromas that are made to stand the test of time. Equally impressive are his dry, peach-flavored Gewürztraminer and his full-bodied Grüner Veltliner, made from an Austrian grape variety grown nowhere in Italy outside the Valle dell’ Isarco.

The majority of Alto Adige’s farmers make a good living by selling their grapes to the region’s 16 excellent cooperatives. So any small grower who takes on the risks involved in making and bottling his own wine needs to have guaranteed premium quality as well as something spectacular to say. Specialist Lagrein producer Josephus Mayr has both of these. In recent years he has won a strong following for his refined, berry-flavored riserva and his unique blockbuster Lamarein Vino da Tavola, which he makes in the amarone style.

Colterenzio director Luis Raifer was one of the first to break down the skepticism of the outside world toward co-op wines by bringing quality here up to international standards. A key factor in this was his Cornell Chardonnay, which, beneath its lick of buttery oak, epitomizes the Alto Adige varietal style. In contrast, the Lafoa Sauvignon (from the Raifer family’s own vineyard) takes a more subtle and personal approach to a standard international variety, with its delicate quince flavors and dry, minerally finish. Schwarzhaus Pinot Nero is the winery’s up-and-coming red, and there is also quality among the local varietals.

This small co-op, also known as Cantina Terlano, specializes in exceptionally dry whites. It sources its grapes from high vineyards with sandy, quartz-rich soils that give amazingly intense and long-lived Pinot Bianco and Sauvignon Blanc. The cellar door list includes 10- and 12-year-old whites that still taste incredibly fresh. The very individual Lagrein combines the structure of wines from the Gries sub-zone with the intense aromas typical of Terlano.

This dynamic co-op, which has the biggest turnover and the fastest growth of any winery in Alto Adige, was named Italian producer of the year in 2000 by Italian wine guide Gambero Rosso. Winemaker Hans Terzer’s style is up-front. He is best known for his dry whites, and in particular the sumptuous Sanct Valentin Sauvignon Blanc, but in the last few vintages he has also brought out spectacular Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Pinot Nero in the Sanct Valentin range.

Willi Sturz is currently the hottest winemaker in the Alto Adige. His magic touch has taken Produttori Termeno’s single vineyard selections to the top of their category in the past two or three vintages. He has also worked magic on the mid-range and basic labels, so that this medium-sized cooperative now delivers one of the most convincing all-around performances in the region. The smooth, mellow fruit style of the whites is exemplified by the multiple award-winning Nussbaumerhof Gewürztraminer, while the stylish fruit and low-key oak of Sturz’s reds shine in his Urbanhof Lagrein.

Gewûrztraminer Symposium

website: www.tramin.it

DNA studies finally seem to have established what the locals have always claimed on the basis of the grape name: that Gewürztraminer does actually originate from the Alto Adige commune of Tramin, now called Termeno. For a week in July every year, this picturesque Tyrolean village becomes the world center for the spicy white varietal as it hosts a hedonistic International Symposium that bristles with food and wine events.

Over 200 Gewürztraminer wines from all over the world grace the main showroom. The meals are prepared by Michelin star chefs and the tastings are led by the current world champion sommelier.

This progressive cooperative offers outstanding value across the whole of its extensive range. La Vis was a pioneer in the cutting-edge research area of “zoning,” or matching sites to grape varieties in Trentino. Operating mainly on the cooler left (east) bank of the Adige, its traditional specialties are fruity white varietals such as the Chardonnay Ritratti and the deliciously scented Müller-Thurgau Maso Roncador; but it also turns out an IGT red Lagrein-Teroldego blend called Ritratti Rosso with inky depth of color and lots of smoky fruit.

This young, family-owned estate debuted in 1998 with a range of whites that put it among the region’s top independent growers. An equally impressive set of reds from the Mediterranean climate zone of Lago di Garda (Lake Garda) followed two years later. In the DOC range, the winemaking style lets the ripe fruit speak for itself, while the IGTs—Olivar and Pivier—are serious oak-aged wines that hold promise for the future. Both excellent, Olivar is a fleshy blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, and Pinot Grigio, and Pivier is a rich and spicy Merlot.

This historic firm was founded in 1902 by a nursery owner with a head for business and a passion for viticulture. Ferrari’s Chardonnay-based style is classic Trentino. Quality is impeccable, all the way from the ridiculously good-value Brut to the breathtaking crystal elegance and complexity of the Riserva Giulio Ferrari, which is disgorged after eight years, released after 10, and still guaranteed to drink sublimely for another decade.

Elisabetta Foradori’s IGT wine Granato takes the rustic Teroldego grape to a level no other producer can reach. Like its creator, it can be tough and uncompromising, but it more than makes up for it with its depth and complexity. Exasperated by the inertia of the DOC, Elisabetta decided to cross over to the IGT Vigneti delle Dolomiti with the 2000 vintage. Her dry, minerally second label remains Teroldego Rotaliano DOC.

Mario Pojer and Fiorentino Sandri run Trentino’s most innovative winery. Since they launched in the early 1980s with a blush version of the local Schiava, this dynamic pair have never been without a new project and have generally kept one step ahead of the next trend. Their latest venture involves the production of terroir-focused wines, one red and one white, from the restored Maso Besler estate in the Val di Cembra, where the combination of high altitude and complicated blends of rare local varieties produces wines with intense and highly original aromas of berry fruit and wild herbs.

San Leonardo has been described as Italy’s equivalent of a Bordeaux premier cru. However, it is much more than a mere Médoc lookalike. The barriquesand the grape varieties—mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot—are indeed French, but the soils and climate are quintessentially Trentino. These elements combine to produce an herb and licorice nuance beneath the fruit—the hallmark of reds from the lower Valle dell’Adige. The classy new second label IGT wine is the plummy, Merlot-based Villa Gresti.